Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Thursday welcomed Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani for talks on developing stronger ties between Iraq, Kurdistan, and the UAE — which is looking for new friendships after announcing its departure from the OPEC cartel on Monday.
Barzani said his talks with the Emirati president “emphasized the importance of reinforcing cooperation to promote stability and security across the region.” His office added that all parties recognize “the significance of promoting cooperation across various sectors” between the Emirati, Kurdish, and Iraqi governments.
Kurdish news service Rudaw noted that the UAE is already “one of the Kurdistan Region’s top three economic partners.” The other two are Turkey and everyone’s least favorite next-door neighbor, Iran.
Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at the UAE during Operation Epic Fury, and also attacked U.S. and allied bases in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurds were especially incensed by Iranian drone attacks against Erbil, the capital of their semi-autonomous region and site of their international airport.
The UAE was not pleased with the response to Iranian belligerence from most of its fellow Gulf Arab states, particularly since they suffered more Iranian strikes than any other country. The Emiratis have lately been heard saying the only country in the region that stepped up to help them against Iran was Israel.
On Monday, the UAE announced it was leaving the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on May 1, ending over five decades of membership. The primary reason for the split was the UAE’s dissatisfaction with OPEC’s price-manipulating production caps on oil, but anger over Iran’s attacks – and Tehran’s continued membership in OPEC – were also factors.
The UAE was one of OPEC’s top oil producers, so its departure will severely compromise the cartel’s ability to set worldwide oil prices, and might even trigger the collapse of OPEC. Many analysts see a major political realignment beginning in the Middle East, since the UAE is no longer willing to suppress its grievances against other Gulf states in the interest of holding OPEC together.
Iraq has a tripartite political system in which the presidency generally goes to a Kurd, most recently Ali al-Zaidi, a 40-year-old billionaire with a very thin political resume whose appointment to the presidency looked more like a Hail Mary pass than a careful compromise to hold Iraq’s fragile system together.
Zaidi is scheduled to visit the Kurdistan region next week for meetings to resolve some longstanding disputes between Erbil and Baghdad. Some Kurdish parties were displeased enough with the rushed process of Zaidi’s appointment to boycott the Iraqi Parliament, so he has his work cut out for him in Erbil. Zaidi is rumored to be considering plum ministerial positions for the Kurds to get them on board with his government.
The UAE might therefore be making inroads with the still-forming Iraqi government by getting closer to the Kurds. The talk of enhanced “cooperation across various sectors” between MBZ and Barzani suggests more investments from the Emiratis, who are already high-rolling investors in the Kurdistan region, could be coming. The Kurds and Emiratis also share security concerns about Iran-backed Shiite groups, both within and beyond their own territories.
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